


happily ever after

by whoneedsemotions



Category: The School for Good and Evil - Soman Chainani
Genre: Multi, Tedros has more than one brain cell, Tedros-centric, Transgender Male Character, Transgender Tedros, but also slightly Sophie-centric, how to tag?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-20 16:01:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18528385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoneedsemotions/pseuds/whoneedsemotions
Summary: Every time the Storian writes 'The End,' it never stays for long.After Agatha took Sophie's hand, Tedros thought it was done. Princess with witch, prince left all alone.But then Agatha wished for him, wished for her fairy-tale prince, and he answered.After they defeated Evelyn Sader, he'd thought it was over too.But it turns out that Evelyn Sader hadn’t been quite so defeated after all.





	happily ever after

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for the lack of italics. I wrote this in notes and used italics, but when I copy-pasted it over here the italics disappeared. If anyone can help me, PLEASE HELP ME. For now, italics are represented by /this/ when in dialogue and like (this) when it is someone’s thoughts.

He started out life as a girl.

Giselle Aurelia Pendragon, to be precise. A girl with golden hair tumbling down her back, with the eyes of her father and the facial structure of her mother. Delicate chin, long-lashed eyes, high cheekbones. 

A girl who very much could not be a boy.

When she was 8, she snuck into her father's room and hid in his closet as he argued with her mother. She ran her hands reverently over the tailored suits, the suits of armor, the indescribably male look of everything there.

The shouting outside ceased, the light sound of her mother's footsteps fleeing the king's bedroom. Giselle Aurelia Pendragon heard the heavy clinking of her father's wine glasses, the splash of the liquor, the miserable sigh of a king without a queen.

She crept out of her father's closet while his back was to her, while he was pouring himself more whisky. Silent footfalls carried her through the elegant halls of Camelot, tapestries of Arthur's famous battles on the stone walls.

Candles flickered above the young princess as she entered the queen's bedroom, where she found her mother calmly combing her hair at the vanity.

"...hi," Giselle said meekly, sidling up beside Guinevere. The queen turned to face her child, setting the brush down on the vanity. 

Guinevere said nothing, hugging Giselle tightly to her chest before letting go, starting to comb Giselle's hair.

They were silent for a few minutes while Guinevere worked a brush through Giselle's golden locks. "Mom?"

Guinevere hummed in answer, concentrating on detangling a knot.

"Um, what would you have named me if, um, if I had been a boy?" Giselle whispered.

The queen thought for a while, looking up at the gilded ceiling. "Your father wanted to name you Tedros. After who I don’t know, but that was what he told me."

She resumed her brushing. "Since you turned out to be a beautiful princess, I had the honor of naming you instead. Your father...well, he wanted a proper heir. Not that you aren't, of course," Guinevere said hurriedly. "He just...would have preferred a son."

(Maybe he got what he wanted.)

 

A year later, Giselle looked at herself in the mirror and screamed.

This was wrong, this was all wrong, her body was not supposed to curve gently there and look so small there; why were her shoulders so delicate and her waist so thin? Why were there tiny breasts growing where there should be none at all? Why was her hair down by her elbows, accenting her curvy hips?

Tears filled her eyes, her beautiful long-lashed stupidly feminine eyes. Growling low in her throat, Giselle slammed her hand down on her mother's vanity, feeling blindly for a pair of scissors. As soon as her hands closed on them, she cut right through her golden locks.

Strands of sunlight fell to the floor as Giselle set about shearing the long locks it had taken her years to grow. A mound of gold formed on the carpet beneath her feet.

She admired herself in the mirror; the short hair brought out her jawline, a gift from her father, and her nose, almost aquiline. Her only two maybe-male features.

Her voice was too high, her hips were too wide. None of this was right.

That evening, at dinner, it was only her and Guinevere. Guinevere, who took the haircut and the new clothes (not a gown, just a pair of leggings and a green tunic) in stride.

Guinevere, who only asked quietly, "Would you like me to call you something else?"

The young princess (maybe prince??) swallowed and stared at her (his??) plate. "I was hoping, um, you would maybe - " she (he) clenched the fork tighter in her (his??) grasp - "call me Tedros?"

Cheeks burning fiery red, Giselle - no, Tedros - peeked up at his mother, at an empty seat across the table.

He jumped as Guinevere hugged him tightly and kissed the top of his head. "My son. My little prince."

Tedros was struck by how right that felt. He wasn’t a princess, he was a prince; he was a son, not a daughter. 

 

On her last day in Camelot, Guinevere took Tedros shopping.

To the public, he was still the young princess, still Giselle Aurelia Pendragon. But to Guinevere and Guinevere only, he was her son. The Prince of Camelot.

With his newly short hair and some clothes borrowed from one of his mother's manservants, Tedros looked like a boy. A delicate boy, to be sure, with narrow shoulders and feminine features, but a boy nonetheless.

As the two of them made their way through a bustling market, a young girl plowed into Tedros, laughing. He stumbled but managed to keep his footing and then the girl was dashing off again, yelling, "Sorry, sir!" over her shoulder.

Rubbing his shoulder, Tedros realized it was the first time anybody had called him 'sir'. 

(I'm a boy.)

Guinevere had been sifting through a rack of boy's clothes, worn trousers and simple tunics. She hadn’t noticed the little girl. But Tedros did, and Tedros would remember that day for a long time to come.

 

That very night, while Tedros was still glowing with happiness ("Sorry, sir!") he heard hoofbeats outside his window. Confused, he slid out of bed and lifted the heavy curtains aside, peering out into the night.

A slim figure, cloaked in black, rode out into town.

Tedros thought nothing of it - it was probably just a servant riding home late, or some poor maid woken up to go buy some ingredient Chef Silkima had forgotten - 

Another silhouette dashed out of the castle, robes flapping behind him, crown askew on his head -

Dad?

"Guinevere!" Arthur called, his voice filled with mad desperation. "Guinevere! I need - get me a horse, goddamnit!" 

A nearby servant jumped and hurried off to the stables. Tedros watched his father pace madly in front of the castle, his feet churning up the immaculate lawn. A panting servant tugged a horse behind him -

Arthur leaped up onto the animal, shouting at the servant to go and find Lancelot, damn it, before shoving his heels into the panicked chestnut's side and spurring it forwards.

Tedros threw on a shirt and trousers before running downstairs, to the drawbridge. "Dad!"

A servant grabbed his forearm. "Princess Giselle, you need to - “

"I need to find my father! Where did he - "

But the look in the servant's eyes told him everything.

 

Arthur, bedraggled and filthy, returned to the castle after two days. Two days of Tedros waiting anxiously, biting his nails to nubs and pacing on the castle floor. Two days of Tedros gulping down alcohol to forget, to forget that his mother didn’t love him and Merlin didn’t love him and it was all because he was a freak, unworthy of love, and now his father would have to pay the price -

But it wasn’t really Arthur that returned, it was a drunken shadow of a king, a ghost of the man Tedros remembered. The few times Tedros entered his dad's room - for advice, for help, for comfort - he was met with the pungent stench of alcohol and sweat.

(Sometimes he missed the feeling of whiskey sliding down his throat.)

The few times Tedros entered Queen Guinevere's room, it smelled only faintly of his mother's rose perfume.

Tedros watched his father waste away. His father, who still addressed him as Giselle, as daughter, as princess. 

"Dad," Tedros said quietly, mopping up the spilled alcohol on the floor, "would you call me Tedros?"

Arthur stirred slightly, staring at Tedros. "You want me to call you...Tedros?"

The young prince nodded.

Pain erupted in Tedros' cheek as his father slapped him. "What kind of child are you? First I wanted a son, a brave, valiant son to carry on my legacy. Then I get a daughter. Of all the stupid things in the world, a daughter!"

Tedros dropped the stained towel in his hand and cradled his red cheek.

"And at the very least you could've been a model princess," King Arthur raged, slamming a wineglass on the table. Shards of glass spilled everywhere. Tedros backed against the wall, shivering.

"But no!" Arthur grabbed Tedros' arm roughly, yanking him up so his face was inches from the enraged king's. "You had to go and be a freak! How will Camelot carry on when its leader is nothing but a queen masquerading as a man? How will people see me, father of a - a girl who thinks she's a boy?"

"Dad - " Tedros whimpered.

Arthur threw him to the floor. "You're a girl, Giselle, goddamnit. A girl. A princess. A queen. Get that through your head and maybe for once I'll be proud of you."

Tedros limped back to his room, cheek throbbing, tears stinging at his eyes. 

He showed up to dinner that night in a satin gown that clung to his curves, accentuating his blue eyes. His father nodded gruffly, anger sharpening his jaw. 

(I'm not a girl.)

 

When King Arthur Pendragon died, two things went through Tedros' mind.

Can I be a boy?

Should I be a boy?

The people of Camelot were used to Princess Giselle Aurelia Pendragon, and Tedros didn’t see how it would be possible for him to win them all over. Perhaps if Giselle were to somehow 'die,' but then what would happen? How would he reinstate himself on the throne?

As it turned out, his father's will made it all possible.

"...and I hereby leave the kingdom of Camelot and the sword Excalibur to - " the squire peered closer at the yellowed parchment, confused. He cleared his throat. "Sorry. I hereby leave the kingdom of Camelot and the sword Excalibur to my - my eldest son Tedros, twin brother of my daughter Giselle."

Tedros, clothed in a green velvet gown, gasped. 

The crowd below muttered uncertainly, staring at him with pity in their eyes. He heard a snatch of conversation -

"Poor thing. Thought she was ruler of the kingdom and ends up giving it all to some boy."

But Tedros didn't bother to listen to the rest - he was king now, and it felt right.

The squire continued reading about the regents (the Three Mistral Sisters) and other matters of the kingdom's wealth, but Tedros' heart was still thundering in his chest. 

(Thank you, father.)

From then on, Tedros made a point to dress like a boy. He stole bandages from the castle's healer whenever possible, binding his small breasts tight. He worked out as much as he could, building his figure into that of a boy's. 

A small, slender boy's figure, but nevertheless a boy's.

A month after the king's will was read, Giselle Aurelia Pendragon died of scarlet fever, and Prince Tedros of Camelot made his first appearance to his subjects.

And a year after that, he received an invitation to the School for Good.

 

Panting, Tedros struggled to untie the knot that bound his chest so tight. The bandages he had taken from the School's infirmary seemed to bite into his skin. He finally got the knot loose and the bandages fell to the floor around his feet.

He heaved a sigh of relief, feeling his lungs expand fully in a way they hadn't been able to do for quite a long time. Keeping up with the physical demands of Swordplay and the other classes took a lot out of him, especially with his chest bound so tight he could barely breathe. 

But image was everything, and if he had to sacrifice comfort for reputation, so be it.

Tedros pulled on a loose tunic and his blue-and-gold Camelot jacket, trudging out of his dorm room's bathroom. Chaddick acknowledged him with a grunt as Tedros fell onto his bed to take a nap.

 

"Tedros!" bellowed Chaddick. Tedros bolted up, hair flopping over his right eye. "Wh - what?"

"Merlin's Menagerie - it's - it's on fire - “

The prince grabbed Excalibur from where it leaned against the wall and tugged on his jacket, crashing through the door and up the stairs through Hansel's Haven, where boys were tackling porcupines and screaming princesses were cowering atop the desks.

Tedros barreled through the hordes of animals and through the frosted-glass doors. Beasts yipped and yowled at his feet and he shoved the doors shut before so much as a mouse could get through. 

Fire flickered in the remains of what had once been Merlin's Menagerie. Ashy branches, devoid of leaves, stretched towards the sky. And in the middle of it all -

The witch (Agatha, wasn't it?) kneeled, a gargoyle beside her.

With a roar of fury, Tedros threw himself forward, stabbing the gargoyle through the chest. Agatha gasped and turned to him with murder in her eyes -

"Filthy, evil beast!" Tedros shouted, swinging Excalibur. 

The gargoyle's head rolled beneath a desiccated depiction of his father holding Excalibur aloft.

"He was a boy!" Agatha shrieked, rounding on Tedros like he was the monster here. "A little boy! He was Good!"

Tedros threw Excalibur to the side, drawing himself up to full height. He opened his mouth, about to spit a retort down at the dark-haired witch -

He'd forgotten the bandages.

Agatha squinted down suspiciously at his chest, where his shirt peaked oddly in two specific areas.

"Now I know you're a witch," Tedros blustered, drawing her attention back to his face. Damn it damn it damn it.

She stormed closer, big brown eyes pulsing with anger, and punched him in the eye.

Tedros reeled backward. "Why you little - "

Before he could punch her back - admittedly a terrible decision - a wave lashed between the two of them and pulled them apart.

 

Shivering in his blue Trial by Tale cloak, Tedros picked at the bandages around his chest, loosening them just enough so he could breathe deeply. Chilly night air filled his lungs and he gripped his training sword tighter, checking the scoreboard again.

As he watched, Reena vanished off the board, followed by Vex. Sparks shot into the sky, red and white fountains against the night. Screams echoed through the forest. But Sophie remained stubbornly on the Nevers' side.

He exhaled in relief and trudged on.

Hours later, he had lost his sword and his cloak while fighting a huge wolf-bear-snake monster. His tunic had been torn to shreds, although the bandages around his chest were still intact. He pulled his dented shield closer to his battered body, limping into a small glen.

Quickly, he scanned the clearing for any signs of danger. Two tiny shrubs rustled in the wind. Seeing nothing harmful, he crumpled against a thin pine tree, staring up at the sky, trying to hold back sobs. 

He checked the scoreboard again - Sophie was still there.

"Almost done," he whispered to himself. "Come on Tedros, come on."

The two shrubs rustled louder and Tedros squinted suspiciously. There was no wind for those two shrubs to be moving in -

"Who's there?" he called, bolting up and holding his shield defensively to his body. 

A figure stepped from the shadows.

"Where's your witch?" Hester hissed, her Trial cloak unscathed. Tedros backed against the tree, miserably aware of his lack of weapons.

"Safe," he replied hoarsely, his voice tired of pretending to be a boy's.

Hester smirked knowingly at him, eyes cutting. "So much for your team."

The shrubs quivered violently.

Tedros tensed, ready for a fight. "She knows I'm safe. Otherwise she'd be here too, to fight with me."

The witch's coal-black eyes flashed. "Are you sure about that?"

He straightened. "That's what make us Good, Hester. We trust. We protect. We love. What do you have?"

Hester grinned, her white teeth glinting. "Bait."

Tedros sucked in a breath and Hester thrust her glowing red fingertip towards him. The demon tattoo peeled off her neck, swelling with blood, tighter, tighter, tighter, about to burst. The prince backed up against a tree, eyes wide in shock.

Hester screamed in agony, her skin losing its color. Her eyes faded to gray. The demon's body parts detached from one another.

Head, two arms, two legs.

All alive.

Tedros felt the blood drain from his face. He held his shield up, breathing hard. 

The demon pieces blasted towards him, daggers in each one. He managed to bludgeon the demon's head and leg with his battered shield, but an arm sank a knife into his thigh.

He cried out in pain and whacked the arm away, yanking the knife out of his leg - oh good, a weapon - and scrambling up the skeletal pine he had been leaning against earlier.

A leg whipped a dagger at him and he felt it graze his ear as he threw himself to a higher branch. Down on the floor, Hester conducted all five demon pieces, face gray and pallid. The fractured parts hurtled towards him -

A flash of red drew his eyes. Handkerchief. In Hester’s boot.

His eyes narrowed. As the demon pieces sped towards him, he leaped out of the tree, landing on his wrist. The bone snapped in half and he hissed through his teeth, agony lancing up his arm

The witch backed away from Tedros, limping towards her. He glared at her eyes, leached of color, and she circled her glowing fingertip, baring her teeth maliciously. The demon parts coiled back to kill him, armed with new daggers. 

She roared and the knives stabbed down - Tedros leaped at her, teeth clenched -

Just as the knives came crashing onto him, he fished the handkerchief out of her boot - Hester's eyes widened in horror - and stabbed it onto the ground. Daggers pierced his skin - 

And Hester vanished from the clearing, her name fizzling out on the scoreboard.

Wrist throbbing, leg bleeding, Tedros flopped onto his back, staring at the lightening sky. 

"Sophie," he croaked.

He forced himself to sit up and inhaled deeply. "SOPHIE!"

The two shrubs rustled beside him and he turned to looked at them suspiciously. There was a faint breath of wind by his ear -

He whipped around to see a flickering demon arm stabbing down towards his heart.

The knife pierced the bandages around his chest - he had seen it too late, too late - and then a shield smashed it down. The arm screeched and vanished with a brief puff of red smoke.

Dazed, Tedros wrapped the bandages tighter around himself and looked up at his savior - "Sophie," he breathed -

Agatha blushed fiercely above him, covering her naked body with his shield. "Still haven't figured out the clothes bit," she mumbled.

Tedros staggered to his feet, gaping. "But - but you're not even in - what are you - “

A shrub - one of the two he had seen earlier - quivered behind Agatha. Scowling, Tedros stabbed a glowing gold finger in its direction. "Corpadora volvera!"

Sophie fell forward, concealing herself behind a shrub. "Agatha, I need clothes! Tedros, could you please turn around - “

Realization dawning, Tedros shook his head. "The library - that book - you did cheat!"

"Teddy, we had to - Agatha, clothes!”

Agatha pointed her glowing finger at Sophie to wrap her in vines, but Tedros reached up and grasped her hand firmly to stop her. The brunette blushed violently.

"Sophie, you said you'd fight with me!" Tedros shouted, his eyes locked on Sophie's leaf-hidden figure. "You said you'd have my back!"

"I knew you'd be fine - Agatha, help!"

He couldn't stop his voice from breaking. "You lied!" Tears seared his eyes. "Everything you told me was a lie! You were using me!"

"Teddy, that's not true! No princess would risk her life - not even your truest love - “

Tedros burned with fury. "Then why did she?"

Behind the bush, Sophie saw Tedros' hand on Agatha's - only to stop the witch from casting spells - and her green eyes widened.

Agatha opened her mouth to defend herself -

Sunlight washed through the glen. 

Wolves howled from outside the forest and footsteps thundered towards the three of them.

"They did it!"

"They won!"

"Tedros and Sophie won!"

Students burst into the clearing. Agatha, panicked, stabbed her finger at her own body and flitted away as a dove. 

"Ever and Never!" shouted someone.

"Prince and witch!" yelled another.

"All hail Sophie and Tedro - “

The Forest went quiet.

From a skeletal pine tree, Agatha watched as unchosen Evers and Nevers, fallen competitors healed by magic - froze, taking in the scene.

Sophie, cowering naked behind a bush. Tedros glaring down at her, bandages bloodied, blue eyes flaming.

There would never be peace.

 

Tedros crept through the Woods, sword raised. From far off he heard a cry - a voice he recognized -

"Sophie, I'm coming!"

Agatha.

He dashed through the undergrowth, abandoning stealth for speed. A thick purple vine lashed towards a pink-clad figure -

Roaring, he slashed through the vine, grabbing Agatha and lifting her gently up and out of the thorns. 

"Hold on to me!" he yelled, his chest aching - dammit, he shouldn't have wrapped the bandages so tight. Hacking at briars with his training sword, he held Agatha to his chest with one arm, withstanding the attacks with gasps of pain. 

Eventually, he gained the upper hand and forged a path through to the School gates. Glowing in recognition, they opened a tiny bit, giving the two Evers a narrow path back into the School. He fended off a last blow and tugged Agatha through, the gates slamming shut behind them.

"Had a feeling Sophie was getting in through the Woods," Tedros gasped, adjusted his shredded blue tunic. "So Professor Dovey gave me permission to take some fairies and stake out the outer gates. Should have known you'd be there trying to catch her yourself."

"Terrible idea for a princess to take on witches alone," Tedros continued, wiping his bloody hands on the grass. He ignored the tiny voice in his head (Isn't that what you're doing?).

"Wh-where is she?" Agatha croaked. "Is she safe?"

"Not a good idea for princesses to worry about witches either," Tedros replied, his hands gripping her tiny waist. He could see red creeping up Agatha's cheeks. 

"Put me down - “ Agatha sputtered. 

"More bad ideas from the princess."

"Put me down!" Agatha demanded.

Tedros obeyed and Agatha pulled away from him, leaving him with a sense of sadness. 

Fixing her collar, Agatha snapped, "I'm not a princess!"

"If you say so," Tedros said, his eyes drifting downward to her gashed legs. Agatha followed his gaze, and Tedros saw her eyes widen as she took in the waterfalls of brilliant scarlet blood.

He grinned. "Three...two...one..."

She fainted into his waiting arms.

"Definitely a princess," he said to himself. Heaving her into a more comfortable position, he carried her towards six fairies playing in the lake. 

He stopped cold.

On the ground, Sophie looked up at him, black robes stained with blood.

"Agatha?" she whispered.

"You," Tedros growled.

Sophie stood up, blocking his path. "Give her to me. I'll take her."

"All of this is your fault!" Tedros hissed, clutching Agatha tighter to his chest. 

Her eyes glistening with tears, Sophie breathed, "She saved my life. She's my friend."

"A princess can't be friends with a witch!" Tedros lashed.

Sophie flared in anger and her finger blazed pink. He saw it and immediately raised his own finger, glowing gold, ready to defend.

Slowly, Sophie's face weakened, her finger dimming.

"I don't know what's happening to me," she whimpered, tears welling.

"Don’t even try," Tedros snarled, lowering his own finger.

"It's that school," Sophie sobbed. "It's changed me."

"Move out of my way!"

"Please, Teddy, give me a chance!"

"Move!"

"Let me show you I'm Good!"

"I warned you," he snapped, storming towards her with Agatha in his arms -

Sophie flinched. "Teddy, I'm sorry!"

He shoved her aside with his shoulder, stomping past towards the fairies in the lake -

"The Good forgive," whispered a voice.

Tedros stopped, looking down at Agatha, weak against his tightly-bound chest.

"You promised her, Tedros," she said quietly.

Stunned, he stared at her. "What? Agatha, what are you say - “

"Take her back to the castle," Agatha said, brown eyes determined. "Show everyone she's your princess for the Ball."

"But she - she's - “

"My friend," Agatha said staunchly, meeting Sophie's shocked eyes.

Tedros' eyes darted between the two girls.

"No! Agatha, listen to me - “

"Keep your word, Tedros," Agatha said. "You have to."

"I can't," he pleaded -

"Forgive her," Agatha said, looking into his eyes. "For me."

He opened his mouth to argue, but the look on her face silenced him.

Agatha twisted out of his grip. "Go. I'll come back with the fairies."

His blue eyes miserable, Tedros slipped out of his jacket, leaving himself only in a tattered blue tunic, and slipped it over Agatha's bare shoulders. His hand stayed on her arm as he fought with himself -

"Go," Agatha urged.

Averting his eyes, Tedros turned away angrily - his gashed leg buckled beneath him and he fell, pain burning up his spine -

A blur of black lunged forward and Tedros flinched back as Sophie caught him, one delicate hand on his chest. He recoiled away from her touch, partly because she was a witch and partly because he didn't want her to feel the bandages underneath his shirt.

"Please, Teddy," Sophie whispered, green eyes teary. "I promise I'll change."

He shoved her away, leaning heavily on his good leg, but then he caught sight of Agatha behind Sophie, his blue jacket draped over her thin frame, her brown eyes piercing his.

Tedros tried to fight himself. Promises can be broken, can't they? If they were built on a lie...

But he knew the truth. He stopped struggling and allowed Sophie to support him, his jaw clenched.

Startled, Sophie helped him forward, terrified of saying something and jeopardizing the gift Agatha had given her. Tedros twisted to look back at Agatha, slack with relief, trudging behind the two blonds on her own. 

Sophie pulled Tedros towards the lake with all of her strength, panting and sniffling. Little by little, Tedros surrendered to her grip, his arm warm on her shoulder. She glanced shyly at him, smiling through tears, her face repentant. 

He met her eyes with a stone-faced scowl at first, but slowly he managed a small, grudging smile in return.

Moonlight washed down on the School and Tedros looked down at the lake, at his reflection next to Sophie's, perfectly intertwined. His leather boots next to her high-heeled glass slippers, his broad shoulders and her small waist, his face glowing in the water next to -

An ugly, old, hag's.

Tedros looked up in horror but saw only Sophie, gentle Sophie, shepherding him back to Good. Heart thudding, he looked back at the lake, but it had clouded over. Dread crept up his spine; chills exploded on his skin.

"I - I can't - “ he choked, wrenching free of Sophie's grasp.

"Teddy?" Sophie gasped.

He stumbled backwards, to Agatha, to his princess, clutching her to his chest. Agatha blinked, surprised.

Sophie turned pale. "Teddy, what did I d - “

"Stay away from us!" Tedros snapped, holding Agatha close. "Stay away from us both!"

"Us?" Sophie screamed, voice echoing across the lake.

"Tedros, wait - “ Agatha begged, hands grasping his tunic - “What about - “

"Let the witch find her way to Evil," he lashed, raising a glowing golden finger to call the fairies over.

Sophie shrank back, shocked. Agatha looked pleadingly at her from Tedros' grip, cheeks red in apology. But her friend's face held no forgiveness - instead it swelled, crimson with fury, until finally - 

"LOOK AT HER!”

The voice blasted across the lake, tearing into Agatha's ears.

She went white.

"SHE'S A WITCH!"

Sophie heaved for breath, her eyes burning with hate.

Tedros turned, his blue eyes piercing.

"Look closer."

And as the fairies swirled around the two Evers, Sophie and Agatha blanched. For now the two girls saw that they were in the right schools all along.

 

Tedros smashed someone into sludge, roaring. He felt his tattered black Never's robes magically restore to his gold-and-blue jacket and Brone coughed from beneath him, body doughy and pale once again.

"Agatha!" he shouted, searching the flailing mob around him. "Agatha, where are you!"

Brone screeched and reared up from beneath him. Staggering back, Tedros felt the Never punch him in the gut. He inhaled sharply in pain before tackling Brone once again, knocking him unconscious.

He looked up -

Two figures, intertwined, fell from the School Master's tower, dresses flapping behind them. Tedros squinted, looking closer -

"Agatha!" He sprinted towards them, but a Nevergirl with one eye - Arachne - sent him flying with a spell. Growling, he dashed towards her, ramming his shoulder into her chest - 

The Nevergirl sprawled into the sludge and Tedros turned again. "Agatha!"

He heard a scream - Agatha's scream, his princess's scream.

Her blue dress, spattered with dark mud, was torn all over, barely concealing her pale form. She was kneeling on the ground, weeping over -

Sophie, the Storian impaled through her heart.

Tedros rushed forward, ready to help -

The swan crest on his jacket came alive, blinding white, and flitted into the air, joining the crests of all the other students.

A man formed in the sky, a man with snowy hair, glittering blue eyes, pale skin.

The School Master said something Tedros couldn't make out and the spirit in the sky merely smiled before Professor Sader limped out of the Woods.

The blind professor stared up. "Please."

From the sky, the Good brother dove down and smashed into Sader's willing body.

The seer shuddered and then slumped to his knees, eyes closed tightly.

Slowly, he opened them, sparkling blue.

The School Master backed away - Sader's arms sloughed away, revealing gleaming white feathers -

Terrified, the School Master melted into a shadow, fleeing across dead grass towards the lake, but Sader took flight, snatching the shadow in his beak, tearing it apart with the searing screech of a bird. Black feathers rained down on the students below.

Tedros dove to his princess's aid, taking Sophie gently in his arms. "I'm sorry," he breathed, for only Sophie to hear. "Let me help."

"No - “ Sophie wheezed - "Agatha."

He met her eyes and backed away, letting Agatha talk to Sophie alone. With nothing else to do, Tedros began finding all the Evers and regrouping them, helping Evergirls shake sludge off their dresses.

Only minutes later, he heard gasps from behind and whirled around. Agatha, sobbing, pressed her lips to Sophie's lifeless body. And as he watched, Sophie's cheeks flushed pink, the blood vanished from her dress, sucked back into her body.

"What...?" he murmured, taking a step closer -

Sunlight burst through the iron-gray clouds and the Storian blazed with new life the grass around it returning to lustrous green. Across the shores, students' robes, pink, blue, black, all melted to silver, dissolving the rift between them once and for all.

Jubilant students rushed towards Agatha and Sophie, Tedros among them, but then stopped. The two girls' bodies began to shimmer, going translucent -

Tedros lunged forward - "Wait!"

Just as his hand brushed Agatha's, the two girls faded to light.

They were gone.

 

Tedros sat in his room, staring at the mural on the wall.

A raven-haired princess and a golden-haired prince, locked in a passionate kiss, crowns perched on their heads. 

(Agatha would never choose you.)

(You're not enough for her.)

(You're not enough for anyone, not even your own parents.)

He bit back tears, feeling them sting his eyes. Two faint knocks sounded at his door. "It's me, mate," Chaddick called from outside. 

Tedros inhaled deeply, banishing thoughts of Agatha and Sophie, and moved to open the door - 

The second he caught sight of Chaddick's burly figure, the floor beneath them exploded.

Chaddick was thrown out of the castle, smashing through a frosted-glass window. Tedros gaped at the hole, confused, before he heard a series of shattering glass -

He ran down the Valor staircase, seeing Everboys ejected from the castle left and right, Evergirls screaming, trying to hold on to their loves.

In the midst of it all, sixty Nevergirls stood in the middle of Good Castle, gaping at the opulent surroundings. A girl at the back - Hester - caught his eye, a question in her eyes, the same question running through Tedros' mind.

Why wasn't the castle throwing him out like the others?

Tedros' heart pounded. He didn't know why this was happening, but he did know one thing: he was no girl. And if the Good castle was ejecting all the Everboys, he had to be ejected too.

Bracing himself, Tedros barreled down the hall, launching himself out the window. Thin tendrils grasped for him, extending from the castle walls -

"Not a girl," Tedros panted, kicking his ankle free and throwing himself at the frosted-glass window -

Glass shattered around him, cutting into his jacket, leaving thin red lines on his face. Looking back, he could see claws reaching out for him from the hole in the window - 

When he landed, he found himself among fifty-nine confused Everboys trying to force their way back into Good.

"It's not going to work," he said, approaching tan Nicholas and broad-shouldered Oliver. "The castle evicted all of us. All the Everboys."

"There's only one place we can go now," Tedros continued, commanding the attention of the boys. "We have to get into Evil."

 

Only a week later, Tedros bolted up in bed, cold sweat making him shiver. His mind filled with one thought: 

Agatha needs you.

He yanked the covers off of his body, stumbling to the window of the School Master's tower, the Storian chained up behind him. It was agony; it felt like his heart was being ripped open, torn apart -

And suddenly his vision sharpened, and in his mind's eye he could see Agatha, alone in a cottage, clutching a pillow and pressing her pink lips to it.

"You wished for me," he breathed, clutching the windowsill like a lifesaver. "You wished for me."

 

Tristan advanced, his training sword flashing, beating Tedros back towards the table where the Storian was chained.

Tedros, teeth gritted, fought him back, parrying the redhead's wild blows and sneaking in darting touches everywhere he could.

He was distracted by a shadow in the window, the rope rustling as someone climbed up. Tristan drove him back immediately, sensing the opportunity. 

Just as Tristan overpowered him, lunging for the Storian, Tedros beamed. "Aric!"

Tristan jumped, startled, and dropped his sword. "Says he wants to guard the Storian with me," Tedros said, pulling off Tristan's hood. "Thought I'd put his skills to the test."

"Shouldn't even be up here, Master," Aric lashed. "Comes and goes as he pleases. Isn't even a real boy."

Neither am I, Tedros thought silently, bandages tight around his chest. He shifted his tunic and Aric continued. "Deserves punishment, this one - “

“Leave him be, Aric," Tedros said flippantly. "Doesn't fit in with the other boys, does he?" He pulled off the silver School Master's mask, slick with sweat, and ran his hand through his hair. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, body still slimmer than that of Aric's or even Tristan's, but corded with muscle, his jaw steel tight. There was a glaring lack of stubble, but all things concerned, he wasn't complaining.

"Need to make sure we end things right this time, and an extra guard can't hurt. Besides, until Sophie's dead, I might as well have some company. How the School Master stayed up here without slitting his throat of boredom I have no ide - “

Tedros' voice died in his throat. A shadowy silhouette stood next to Aric, sunlight framing her figure. Big brown eyes stared out at him, familiar eyes, eyes that he knew -

Aric cleared his throat. "Found her trespassing, Master - “

Tedros stopped him with a cold glare and adjusted his tunic again, walking slowly towards the window. The shadow receded over inky black hair, snow-white skin, doe-like brown eyes, thin pink lips stretched in a terrified smile.

"Agatha," he breathed, clasping his hands in hers. Aric shuffled beside her and Tedros turned to him. "Thank you, Aric. A moment of solitude, please."

"Master, she's dangerous. I can't leave you alone with - "

Tedros glowered at him and Aric stopped arguing, sliding out the window and down the rope. Tristan followed soon after, leaving Agatha alone with her prince.

"I - I wished for you," Agatha said quietly. "But we don't have much time. "Sophie's turning back into a witch - for good this time. We have to stop her."

Tedros looked down at his princess, his true love. "You - You wished for me. You chose me."

Agatha nodded, her brown eyes pleading, but he wasn't finished. "Do you know what you put me through, choosing her? Choosing a witch over your true love?"

"Tedros, please, I'm sorry but we don't have time for this. Sophie - "

"You tore down everything I ever built," Tedros lashed. "My reputation, my honor, everything. I had to sleep every night knowing I wasn't good enough, Agatha. I wasn't good enough for my mother, my father, my true love."

His voice cracked, almost betraying its true, feminine tone. "I had to sleep knowing no one would ever love me for me. That no one would ever want me, not who I really am."

Agatha's eyes widened and she placed a hand on his chest, drawing him closer to her. Don't notice the bandages, don't notice the bandages. He was only about an inch taller than her, Tedros realized.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into his neck. "I'm sorry, I really am. But she was the right choice."

Tedros drew back, his heart torn apart. "You - you would still - “

"No." Agatha's lip quivered, but her voice was steady. "I wouldn't choose her now. I can't choose her now. The choice I made then was something you can't understand, Tedros."

She turned away from him, looking out the window. "Back in Gavaldon, I was a freak. People wouldn't let their children or even their pets near me. And then one day Sophie came, and she kept coming, four o'clock on the dot every day. I'd wait for her at the door 'like a dog'. Sophie was my first friend. She was the only person to make me feel like I was wanted, like I was normal. She and I had our whole lives planned out. We knew exactly what we were going to do. We knew how happy we would be. She made me feel loved for the first time in my life. I couldn't imagine a life without her, Tedros."

Agatha looked back at him. "You see why I had to choose her then."

"And now?" Tedros whispered, face softening.

Eyes sorrowful, Agatha looked out the window one more time, at the Blue Forest below, glazed silver with moonlight. "Now...now I need more than a friend."

Tedros rushed forward, pressing his body to Agatha's, holding her close. Agatha melted into his embrace, her hand tangled in his blond curls.

"Now you need to trust me," Agatha whispered into his ear, detangling herself from his arms. She retrieved Excalibur from where it leaned against the wall. Tedros stood by, his belief in his princess restored.

With a wordless cry, Agatha swung the sword, slashing through the chains binding the Storian. It wrote furiously, flipping pages faster than Agatha or Tedros could follow, until finally it drew them embracing, intertwined, lips inches from each others, breaths mingling, ready to kiss and seal The End -

But there was a shadow in the painting, underneath the table where the Storian was. Tedros jerked away from Agatha, eyes wide and frantic.

"Where's Sophie?" he demanded, gold fingerglow pointed at his princess.

"What do you mean?" Agatha asked, her own finger flaring.

Tedros stalked towards the Storian, examining the picture flowing from its nib -

"Tedros, I'm alone, I swear I'm alone, I came like you told me to - “

The prince turned slowly, blue eyes hard and cold. "Funny. I don’t remember telling anyone to come."

Agatha felt her heart stutter. "But I - but you - you were there - the smoke - the wind - “

"How did you get in," Tedros lashed.

"The bridge," Agatha whispered, tears scorching her eyes. Her heart had birthed an phantom, just like all the other girls.

Only she had believed her phantom was real. 

"I t-t-trusted you. I thought you would be waiting here to - to welcome me and k-kiss me so we could end our fairy tale." 

"We blew up the bridge so you couldn’t cross!" Tedros yelled. "Only a witch's magic could've gotten you here. A witch's magi - “

A hot-pink spell shot between the two lovers. Agatha jerked back, thinking it was Tedros'. Thinking it was Agatha's, Tedros growled in betrayal, taking up Excalibur -

"You beast," Agatha hissed at him. "You filthy animal."

"Better an animal than a witch's slave," Tedros lashed, blood running hot, Excalibur's hilt heavy in his hand.

"I'll never choose you," Agatha shouted. "I should've trusted my instincts. Sophie was always the right choice!"

Roaring in fury, Tedros charged forward, Aric's henchmen bursting through the window - 

Agatha mogrified into a fly and darted out of the tower, furious tears streaming from her eyes.

Tedros watched her go, rage cooling in his blood. Agatha's spells weren't pink, so the magic he had seen couldn't have been his princess. The only person he knew with a pink fingerglow was -

Sophie.

Frantic, Tedros rushed to the Storian, catching a fleeting glimpse of the painting before the Storian flipped the page. It showed Agatha and him, embracing passionately in front of the Storian itself. And underneath the table -

A witch clothed in a snakeskin cape shot a bright pink spell out of her delicate finger, blond hair long and lustrous.

 

Sophie looked down at her tunic, drips of blood and serrated tooth marks scattered over it. Thank goodness she had been unconscious on the way over; she didn't know how she could've survived the crogs.

"What's your name?" Castor snarled above her, slobber coating his teeth.

Sophie looked up at the mass of boys around her, all clean and well-groomed, dressed in red-and-black leather uniforms. 

"YOUR NAME, BOY," Castor thundered.

"Filip," Sophie said. Agatha had thought it was a bad choice, the name of the unborn son her father had always loved more than her.

"Filip of Mount Honora." Saying the name gave her strength, lending hardness to her limbs. She cleared her throat, letting her voice come through in a low timbre. "I was forced out of my kingdom by a hideous witch. Came here for a chance at the treasure. Got in through a crack in the shield."

"Impossible." Aric's voice cut through the murmurs of the boys, his violet eyes piercing Sophie's. "After I let the princes in, I sealed the shield, I'm sure of it."

"Maybe you didn't seal it as tightly as you think," Sophie said, voice hard.

Castor barked, drawing Sophie's eyes away from Aric's. "Welcome to the School for Boys, Filip."

"In three nights' time, we face a Trial that could leave us all slaves," Castor continued, looking up at the boys crowding the staircases. "Win and those two Readers die. Win and the schools return to tradition. Good and Evil, as it should be."

Boys burst into bellowing cheers. Sophie gulped, trying to look excited about her own death.

"For the next three days, Trial Tryouts will determine who will fight against the girls," the dog continued. "Top nine boys after Tryouts will make the team. The tenth member of the team will be chosen by the first-place leader. Let this encourage you to make friends with the new princes around and forge Ever-Never alliances."

Boys old and new scanned each other warily, sizing up the competition. Sophie tried to look taller, standing to her full height.

"As a further incentive," Castor said, "the highest-ranked boy at the end of each day has the prestigious honor of guarding the School Master's tower for the night."

Boys grumbled to each other, as if guarding the tower didn't seem like an honor at all. But Sophie's heart swelled with joy. Win enough challenges today and she and Agatha could go home! Win enough challenges and they would be safe in Gavaldon by dawn!

Albemarle looked up from his ledgers at Castor. "Nowhere to put him. We're at maximum capacity with all these princes here."

"Put him with the girl," Castor said, giving Filip a once-over. "Lowest ranked between the two of them at the end of the day gets punished."

Sophie's heart plummeted. They had a girl captive in this sweaty hellhole? Who could it be? Beatrix, Reena, Millicent, Anadil, Hester, Dot, Arachne, Mona, Kiko, they were all safe at school.

Albemarle pecked obediently at the sheet of parchment and Castor unlocked Sophie's cuffs, shoving her to her feet. "Go get yourself settled in before class, boy. Anybody want to show young Filip here his room?"

Fumbling bootsteps thundered down the stairs and Sophie found herself face to face with Hort, crashing through boys like a loon in a uniform two sizes too big. He snatched the schedule from Albemarle's beak and yanked the new boy to his feet - 

"I'm Hort and I saved you so now we can be best friends even though you're an Ever," he gushed, shoving Filip his schedule. "I'll explain classes, rules, and you can sit with me at lunch and - “

Sophie tuned Hort out and studied her schedule, desperate to know who the 'girl' was -

Filip of Mount Honora 

Second Year: Boy

Roommate: Tedros

Well, it answered her question about the girl. 

 

Hort chattered incessantly in her ear through the entire walk, rambling about his attempts to get Sophie roomed with him (which, thankfully, had not succeeded). When they entered the sewers, however, Sophie paused. "Hort, I thought you were taking me to my room."

"I am!" he said, leading her on through a thin path, red mud roiling past them. The sewer midpoint loomed in the distance, the division between sludge and lake sealed by giant rocks.

"But I still don't understand. Why are we down he - “

"Where is it?" Professor Manley's voice lashed from ahead. "Where did you hide it!"

A whip cracked and someone yelped in pain - someone familiar -

Tedros' voice gasped, "I told you where I buried it. I showed you."

"Well it's not there. And as long as you keep lying, there'll be no food."

Another whip crack. Another cry. "It's - it's the two girls," Tedros panted. "They're hiding in our castle - they moved it - “

"The only girl in this castle is you," Manley sneered. "That pen is still somewhere in the School Master's tower, otherwise the tower would have moved to follow it. Now tell me where you hid it or so help me I'll melt your father's precious sword and gild the toilets with it!"

"I told you!" Tedros yelled. "Under the table! Buried beneath the bricks!"

Sophie blanched. The Storian was...missing? How could she and Agatha write 'The End' now?

Placing first in the day's challenges suddenly became even more crucial. If the pen was hidden in the tower somewhere other than where Tedros had hid it, she'd need time to find it.

Butterflies in her stomach, she followed Hort, edging past the sewer wall as it gave way to the rusted grating of a pitch-dark dungeon cell. In the corner, bald Professor Manley held a whip, his bulbous shadow obscuring the figure on the ground behind him.

"Please, Professor, you have to let me into the Trial," Tedros begged. "I'm the only one who can beat those girls!"

Manley's silhouette tensed. "You'll die of starvation long before the Trial if we don't find that pen," he said, turning for the cell door.

He saw the new boy gaping at him and the whip he held through the grating. "Boys don't like a liar, Filip. Tedros promises the boys he'll kiss Agatha. Promises he'll fix the schools back to Good and Evil. And what do they get instead? A chance at slavery. Ain't it a wonder all the boys hate him now," Manley sneered, aiming one last kick at Tedros' battered body before pulling open the cell door. 

"Whole school's on your side today, Filip." He shoved Sophie into the dungeon. "Teach this puffed-up cockerel a lesson."

Sophie swiveled towards him, hands reaching for the door - "W-w-wait - “

Hort closed the cell door. "See you in class!"

"Hort!" Sophie bellowed. "This can't be my room!"

But the weasel was already charging after Manley, chattering with excitement. "He'll beat Tedros so bad today, Professor. You'll see..."

Sophie slowly turned around, to the rotting dungeon, a chilling collection of torture instruments hooked on the walls, the ceiling, spread out across a metal table. Two metal bed frames, devoid of mattresses, blankets, and pillows, were pushed into a corner of the room. Her breath came in short, quick gasps. She couldn't be here! This place made her Evil! This was where she had killed the Beast -

Two bloodshot eyes glowered at her from the corner.

"Is it true?" Tedros rasped.

"Wh-wh-what?" Sophie gasped.

His blue eyes cut through her. "That the lowest ranked of us each night gets punished."

Sophie nodded. "That's what the dog said."

The prince, bleeding from several lashes on his back, staggered to his feet. "Then we ain't gonna be friends, are we?"

"You're hurt," Sophie said quietly.

The prince barked out a harsh laugh, leaning on one of the metal bed frames. "Storian's missing. I'm always hurt."

She couldn't help it - she felt a tiny bit of sympathy for him. He's the enemy, she growled to herself. He wants to take Agatha from you. He's nothing but a lily-livered, maggot-covered - 

"Listen to me. Those two girls took everything I ever had. My friends, my reputation, my - my identity - “. His voice cracked briefly and he straightened, crossing the room. Drawn up to his full height, Sophie realized, Tedros was still just barely shorter than her. 

"I won't let anyone take my chance to fight them," Tedros hissed, pinning Sophie back against the wall. Even for a boy who looked more like a skeleton, he still possessed surprising strength. Sophie found herself unable to move, arms flailing about -

Suddenly a dart of unfamiliar anger tore through her mind, the fear melting away. Her vision sharpened like crosshairs on the boy pinning her to the wall, the boy who had taken away her Happily Ever After. With a roar, Sophie shoved Tedros off of her, the prince's back colliding heavily with the metal bedpost. 

"Quite the bully aren't you, for someone who lost his princess to a /girl/," she snarled, hormones raging through her blood. 

Tedros straightened just in time for Sophie's large, calloused hand to seize his collar. "I see why she chose Sophie," the stranger hissed, venom dripping from his voice. "Sophie gives her love. Sophie gives her loyalty. Sophie gives her friendship. All the powers of Good. What do you have to give her? You're weak and petty and boring. All you have to offer is a pretty face." The stranger shoved his face closer to Tedros'. "And now I see what's under it."

The prince's face flushed red with anger. He grabbed the stranger's hand and ripped it off his shirt, teeth bared. "You know what I see? An overgrown puffy-haired elf who knows nothing about me and Aga - “

"You know what I see?" The stranger's green eyes pierced through his. "Nothing."

The blood drained from Tedros' cheeks, the fight leached out of him. "Who are you?" he asked quietly.

"Filip to you," Sophie said, her voice hard and ice-cold. She released his collar.

Tedros stumbled away, his whip marks still bleeding, and for just a second Sophie felt bad. But then she caught sight of Filip's face in the metal bed frame, holding in a grin.

Suddenly she liked being a boy.

Keys jangled outside. Two hooded henchmen, both Aric's, pulled open the cell door.

"Time for class," they growled.

 

Tedros slumped in the corner of the dungeon, feeling his heart beat sluggishly against his ribs. He had unwrapped the bandages as soon as he had stepped inside, his lungs expanding gratefully. 

Not that it mattered anymore. The whole school already knew.

Once the teachers were back, dumping Tedros off his throne, rumors had started to circulate, fed by Chaddick, his former best mate. Chaddick, who had been evicted in front of Tedros' very eyes.

Chaddick, who had happened to be looking up when Tedros had thrown himself through the window.

Shivering in the cell, Tedros shoved all thoughts of Chaddick to the back of his mind. He and Tarquin had puzzled out exactly what Tedros' little secret was, spreading the rumor like wildfire.

Soon enough, someone had snuck up behind him in Espada's class and slashed right through his tunic and bandages, fabric falling to the floor, and Tedros had stood there, bare chested, desperately trying to fold his elbows over himself, his tiny breasts out for the world to see.

Later he had learned that it was Oliver.

He buried his face in his bony knees and tried not to sob.

The door slid open and Tedros looked up, seeing Filip enter the dungeon whistling a merry tune. 

"You cheated," Tedros blurted. 

Filip turned to him, surprise in his green eyes.

"I don’t care that I have to be punished or I can’t eat supper or that everyone hates me," Tedros said. "I care that you cheated."

Filip pulled the door open again, striding out - "A bit busy for chitchat, unfortunately - “

"You're no better than Agatha," Tedros whispered. The elvish prince looked back, stopping cold.

"I loved her so much," Tedros mumbled, no longer paying attention to Filip. "I tried to make her wish come true. Kill the witch, kiss the princess, live happily ever after. That’s how fairy tales work. That's what she asked for." His voice cracked, its femininity exposed. "But I would have let Sophie live a thousand lives if it meant having Agatha forever. I would have kissed her right there again and again and again until the Storian gave us our end."

He paused, a tear running down his cheek. "But she cheated. Agatha had her witch with her the entire time, under the table. All of it was a lie."

Tedros buried his head in his knees once more.

"How could anyone be so Evil?" he rasped, voice scratchy.

Sophie's heart softened as she watched him sob silently into his legs. 

A shadow washed over them.

Tedros lifted his eyes to Aric, smirking in the open doorway.

"Special occasion," the captain said, almost lazily. "Think I'll do the punishing myself."

The prince of Camelot turned away, like a dog offering its neck.

Aric's violet eyes flicked to Filip. "Get out."

Sophie's heart chilled and she fled, footsteps pattering through the sewers, trying desperately to convince herself that Tedros was selfish, he deserved whatever came to him, he deserved it, he deserved it...

 

And in a dungeon cell she had just left, predator circled prey.

Aric, a knife gleaming in his hand, grabbed Tedros' chin, forcing him up. Tedros didn't fight, resigned to the punishments.

"Hello there, little princeling," Aric said, voice buttery smooth. His sharp nails dug into Tedros' windpipe. "Or should I say princess?"

In one smooth move Aric sliced through Tedros' tunic. The prince's eyes flicked to the bandages, crumpled in the corner - 

Cold steel pressed against his bare chest and he gasped, shocked. Aric examined his body like a jeweler sizing up a diamond. "Very small," he commented, his knife leaving a thin cut on Tedros' breast. "Really, I don't see why you bother to hide these." The knife flicked one of Tedros' breasts. "You won't be a real man anyway."

Tedros gritted his teeth and kicked Aric as hard as he could, right in the groin.

Aric reeled back, gasping. "Fighting dirty, are we?" He snarled at Tedros, gleaming teeth bared, red lining his blade. "Too bad that trick doesn't work on girls."

"Not a girl," Tedros panted, backed against the wall, hand fumbling for a spare shirt. 

"Then explain that," Aric growled, lunging forward, the tip of his knife settled on Tedros' chest. "Explain this," he demanded, tracing Tedros' smooth, hairless chin with a finger. "Explain why the Girls' castle didn't evict you."

Tedros opened his mouth to retort, to say something snappy, to insult Aric, to defend his identity, his gender -

But nothing came.

Instead he opened and closed his jaw, gaping like a fish, until Aric chuckled cruelly and pinned Tedros to the wall facefirst.

While the prince gasped for air, he felt the tip of a knife cutting into his back. He tried not to scream but eventually the knife hit a not-fully-healed wound from Manley's whip and Tedros howled in pain.

"So nobody else makes the same mistake I did," Aric spat, forcing Tedros' arm up to feel the cuts, the word carved into his flesh -

GIRL.

Tedros crumpled to the floor, biting his index finger to hold back tears until he heard the door jangling and Aric's bootsteps fading away.

He heaved for air, once, twice, before tears spilled from his eyes and he sobbed into himself, his chest bare, his back in agony.

(I'm not a girl.)

(am i?)

 

Sophie chomped at an apple, hurrying through the sewers to the Doom Room - Manley had given her a mattress and a thin blanket after her first-place rank yesterday - desperate for a few minutes of sleep before class. Last night had been fruitless; she had hunted manically for the Storian while her and Agatha's fairy tale glared at her from the table.

Keys jingling, she unlocked the door and rushed in, ready to collapse on her bed -

Tedros sat on the edge of his own bed, metal frame empty of any luxuries, eyes red and rimmed with tears. Sophie couldn't see any fresh bruises or welts, scratches or bandages, but she could see how his skin was ghostly pale and his veins were blue against his skin.

He didn't look hurt, but his haunted eyes told her that he'd been tortured beyond what even the strongest boy could handle.

"What did he do to you?" Sophie breathed, sliding closer, holding out her half-eaten fruit to Tedros. To her mortal enemy. But still, she couldn’t bring herself to hate him the way she had before. "What did Aric d - “

"Get away from me," Tedros whispered, not looking up at her. Sophie inched closer, just a little bit closer -

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Tedros screamed, slapping the apple out of her hand. Sophie jumped away and dashed out of the room, the echoes of his voice chasing her all the way.

 

"I can't do it, Hort," Sophie said miserably as she and Hort headed into Evil Hall for Weapons Training. "I can't cheat, not if it means he's tortured again." 

"Well do you want Aric to torture you?" Hort snapped. 

Sophie stayed silent, sneaking a glance back at Tedros, clutching his own arms, barely able to walk. Guilt racked her body

What is wrong with me! Sophie scowled at the wall. This was a boy who wanted her and Agatha dead! This was a boy who had hated her since the first year of school!

"Fine, stick with the plan," Sophie gritted, averting her eyes from the prince's weak figure. 

"There's my best friend," Hort said merrily, punching Sophie's shoulder good-naturedly. "We'll make a great pair in the Trial, won't we?"

Sophie frowned. "Hort, you're not even close to making the Trial tea - “

But Hort was already whistling a merry tune and motoring ahead.

 

"Just tell us where it is," Professor Manley demanded. Tedros shrank into the corner. "Tell us and I promise you'll have dinner tonight."

"I don't know," Tedros said. "Please, Professor, you have to - “

"I don't have to do anything," Manley spat. "There's no use in hiding it, Tedros. Just tell us where the damned pen is - “

"I DON'T KNOW!" Tedros screamed.

Manley, eyes afire, glared at Tedros for a long minute before he left, footsteps echoing against the sewer walls.

Tedros leaned against his metal bed frame, stomach aching almost more than he could stand. His teeth had started to chatter, even in the sweltering dungeon, and his heart fluttered weakly like a dying bird.

He wouldn't survive tonight.

I'm sorry, Agatha, he thought, lifting his eyes to the ceiling of the dungeon.

The cell door clanked open and Tedros looked away from Filip, Filip the cheater, Filip the - 

Meat.

Filip slid a bucket of braised lamb chops and mashed potatoes in front of him. "Told Castor it was for Manley," he said in his strange, affectively low voice. "Told Manley it was for Castor."

Tedros looked up at Filip, at his fluffy blond hair, his pointed ears, his big, emerald-green eyes. Eyes that flickered between ice-cold and vulnerable, raw, as if flipping between Good and Evil. Once upon a time, Tedros had fallen in love with eyes like those.

He wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Gripping the pail by its rusted handle, he flung the contents of it against the stone wall, grease spattering Filip's uniform. Tedros dumped the pail to the floor with a loud clang and sat back down, panting.

Filip said nothing, slouching down on his own bed.

The two cell mates sat in silence until keys jangled - the door opened - and Aric stepped in, a coiled whip in his hand.

"No," Filip gasped, lurching to his feet - "You'll kill him!"

"Late for Storian duty, aren't you?" Aric sneered. 

"Look at him!" Filip demanded. "He can't survive - “

But Aric's eyes had drifted down to the empty pail, the mashed potatoes splattered on the wall. "Stealing food, I see," Aric said quietly, voice icy. "Perhaps we'll start with extra punishment tonight."

"No, please, it's my fault - Tedros, /tell him/!" 

Tedros silenced Filip with a glare.

"Hands on the bricks," Aric ordered. Tedros obeyed, reaching his hands above his head, palms against the rotted wall.

There was a soft snap as Aric unhooked the whip from his belt. Tedros could hear his heartbeat thundering wildly against his ribs as if it knew that one of these lashes would kill him. Tears stung the prince's eyes. He didn't want to die like this, not worse than his father -

On the wall, Aric's shadow uncoiled the whip before its hand rose up with the handle, the whip tearing towards him, the first lash about to meet his skin -

Aric's shadow stumbled off balance and the whip cracked sickly against someone else's skin.

Tedros spun around -

Filip had Aric by the throat against the bricks, whip coiled around his forearm, blood dripping off his elbow. "Tell the teachers that if anyone tries to hurt him, they'll have to get through me," Filip growled.

Tedros rubbed his eyes, unsure if he was alive or dead.

Aric looked nervous now, for just a second, before he managed a cruel smile and wrenched out of Filip's grip. "Just what we need in the Trial," he said. "Someone who puts loyalty first. I'll talk to the teachers about finding you a more suitable room." Aric turned hurriedly to leave.

"Fine right here!" Filip barked.

Tedros' eyes were the size of marbles. Slowly he turned to Filip, who bared teeth at him, cheeks flushed furious red.

"Either you eat now or I kill you myself," Filip lashed.

This time, Tedros didn't argue.

 

The two boys sat side-by-side on the teachers' balcony, the Blue Forest gleaming below them, moonlight casting silver shadows.

"Tedros," Filip said quietly, turning to the prince. "I, um, I heard a rumor from the other boys - and from the teachers, actually - something about, um - “

Tedros inhaled sharply, hugging his knees to his chest.

The elven prince noticed, big green eyes full of curiosity. "Are you - um, are you a girl?"

Hunched over, Tedros felt the scabbed-over cuts of Aric's knife throb on his back, bandages tight around his chest -

"No," he rasped, voice hoarse.

Filip exhaled slowly. "So the rumors are just..."

"They're true," Tedros whispered. "My - my body is a girl's body. I have..." He gestured vaguely to his chest - "You know. No mistake there."

"Then why - what - “

"But I'm a boy," Tedros barreled on, eyes locked on a tree branch below, unable to bring himself to look at Filip. Don't hate me, please don't hate me. "I - I can't be a girl. Trust me, I've tried. It's like...like my brain is a boy's brain." He rocked back and forth, digging his fingernails into his fists. "No matter what I do I can't think like a girl. I can't act like a girl. I can't - I can't be a girl."

"Okay," Filip said simply.

They sat in silence for a minute until Filip asked quietly, "Have you told Agatha?"

Tedros rubbed his arm, finally meeting Filip's searching gaze. "No."

He paused. "Truth is, I thought I'd, you know, get the switch done before I met my true love. Or I'd just..." Tedros sighed. "I don't know. I was hoping for some sort of - of a spell, or a potion, that could change your biological gender."

Filip flinched slightly before - 

"Are you ever going to tell Agatha?"

Tedros tilted his head up to the sky and Sophie looked at the prince's slender neck, Adam's apple nonexistent, devoid of stubble. "I don't know," Tedros sighed. "I mean, she's not my true love anymore. She...she chose Sophie. Doesn't need to know."

"She still deserves to know - “

"That her true love was nothing but a princess all along," Tedros spat, pain in his crystal-blue eyes. "She deserves to know that I was lying, I was lying to everyone all along, and I'm worse than that witch Sophie because at least Sophie told the truth!"

He bowed his head, biting back tears. "But I don't - I don’t want her to know."

Gently, as if approaching a rabid animal, Sophie placed her hand on Tedros' shoulder. "You're not a girl," she said firmly. "You're not a princess. You're Tedros, prince of Camelot, most eligible bachelor in the Woods." Here Tedros cracked a smile. "And from what I know of Agatha, she won't hate you for this."

"Then let's just hope she's more Good than all the Everboys here," Tedros said bitterly. 

"They all know?" Sophie gasped.

Tedros nodded.

"Did you...tell them by yourself?" 

The prince inhaled sharply, shaking his head, voice quivering. "Chaddick and Tarquin found out 'cause I wasn't e-ejected like the other Everboys. I had to jump out a window myself and the castle barely even let me." 

He stopped, trying to blink away the tears in his eyes. "Later, when the teachers were all back, Oliver...he snuck up behind me and - and sliced my shirt right off and everyone c-could see and - “

Tedros sniffed softly, a tear rolling down his cheek, and Sophie scooted a little closer, their thighs touching. Eventually she felt the prince lean into the contact, one arm draped on her broad shoulders.

"Don't belong with the boys," Tedros murmured. "I'm still stuck in a girl body. Don't belong with the girls if I look, act, and feel like a boy. With the world the way it is...I don't belong anywhere."

He pounded his fist on the marble. "If I had just killed that witch Sophie when I had the chance it wouldn't be like this. It would still be a Good and Evil, prince with princess. Agatha and I would be happy together without Sophie there to rip us apart." He sighed. "We don't have that chance anymore. I have to kill them both."

"How can you sleep at night?" Sophie asked abruptly. "Knowing you're sentencing two girls to death out there just because they love each other?"

Tedros pulled away, his absence letting the cold eat into Sophie's side. "There are always three in a fairy tale, Filip. The true loves and the villain. The moment Agatha smuggled Sophie into the tower to kill me, she sealed my place as the villain. And if playing the villain is what I have to do to stay alive, then that's what I'll do."

"But doesn't it bother you?" Sophie asked, unable to stop herself. "Don't you still feel some part of you wanting to be Good?"

"I don't know what the Good thing to do is anymore," Tedros confessed, voice tight. "Sophie's a witch. She's a Never. Is letting Agatha stay with her good? Is letting Agatha stay with her bad? Is Sophie corrupting Agatha? Is Agatha enlightening Sophie? I - I don't know what to think. I don't know who's right and who's wrong and who's Good and who's Evil anymore."

He paused, looking out over the serene forest. "I don't want to kill Sophie," he murmured. "If I could help it I wouldn't kill anyone at all, least of all Agatha. But they left me no choice. They tried to murder me that night, hiding Sophie under the table."

Sophie flinched. She hadn't been trying to kill him, she'd just been trying to bring her best friend back to her. It had been the Good thing to do, she reassured herself, because Tedros was a boy, a selfish image-obsessed boy and Agatha belonged with her, with Sophie.

"But I suppose I can't blame Sophie," Tedros said. "She loves Agatha, same as me. Of course she'd fight for her. Of course she'd try to kill me." His voice hardened. "Means I have the right to kill her too."

"But don't you see, Tedros?" Filip begged, emerald eyes wide and lucid. "You'll find another princess. You'll move on from Agatha. But Sophie won't. She'll never find another best friend. Maybe what Sophie did was the Good thing after all!"

"I'd think you were a Reader with how much you know about this world," Tedros said. "There's only one true love, Fil. Only one." He hugged his knees to his chest, heart aching. "It's too late. I won't love anyone again, not the way I loved her."

Sophie thought about Tedros' words, her head and her heart warring against each other, until Tedros' voice broke her haze - "So, what's your castle like?"

"M - my castle?" Sophie sputtered. "Oh, it's a, um, small...castle. Shaped like...like a cottage."

"You got any family there?"

"Only my dad," Sophie said sourly.

Tedros read her expression. "Not exactly a great parent?"

Sophie looked at a turquoise squirrel, scampering up a navy tree trunk. "He...he tries. But he doesn’t love me, I can tell. I remind him too much of my mother."

"She's dead, I'm guessing," Tedros said.

Sophie's eyes filled with tears and she nodded mutely.

"What was her name?" Tedros asked after a long silence. "Your mother, I mean."

"Vanessa," Sophie croaked. "Means 'butterfly'. We used to watch the other children playing in the road sometimes and she would tell me to always keep dreaming. 'Don't let them bring you down, S - Filip,' she’d say. 'Caterpillars can't know a butterfly.'"

This time it was Tedros who edged closer, Sophie leaning her head on his shoulder. "What about you? Do you think you'll ever see your mother again?"

Tedros' shoulder stiffened. "No, I hope not. With my dad's death warrant and my sixteenth birthday...if I ever saw her again, I’d have to kill her. Honor my dad's warrant."

Sophie gasped. "You'd hurt your own mother? Kill her, even?"

"She deserted us," Tedros said, eyes cold. "She deserted me even though she knew her husband wouldn't - wouldn't support me. She deserted Dad, even when she knew he would be nothing without her love. She left me alone in a huge castle with no family and no Merlin for five years, all to shack up with some scrawny knight who was Dad's best friend."

They sat in silence again, admiring the sun's rays peeking over the horizon. At last Tedros stretched, yawning, and stood up, legs cramping. "Gonna go back now. See you in the morning, Filip."

Sophie hummed in acknowledgment, hearing the prince's footsteps echo down the hall. She yelled at herself (Go find the Storian so you and Agatha can go home! Stand up now! Walk to the tower!). 

But she stayed there, legs dangling, thinking of all Tedros had told her, until the morning sun shattered the dark.

 

Faint wheezing echoed from the tree above them and Tedros froze. Next to him, Sophie stumbled to a stop, cerulean grass crinkling under her black boots.

In the distance, a shower of white sparks flew up. Dot and Anadil vanished from the girls' scoreboard. Sophie exhaled in relief - the two witches were safe - 

Her eyes widened with horror. If Dot and Anadil were gone, then the chances that the wheezing in the tree was her best friend -

But Tedros was already catapulting up the branches, leaping like a monkey from impossible handhold to impossible handhold. Sophie gasped, scrambling up the trunk, hands grasping bug-infested crevices -

She grabbed Tedros' boot heel, causing him to flail back, nearly falling. "Filip!" the prince snapped, glancing back, already pulling himself back up.

Panting, lungs burning, Sophie heaved herself up the last few branches, palm sweaty. Tedros offered a hand, a faint blush coloring his cheeks.

Together the two boys brushed away the last bits of foliage surrounding a pair of eyes - green eyes, emerald eyes. Not Agatha, Sophie sighed, before her eyes registered the red hair, the freckled arms, the pallid complexion -

"Yara?" Sophie said.

Tedros turned to her, incredulous. "You know her?"

Sophie choked. "Oh - I - I heard someone calling her name as we went in."

The prince gazed at her suspiciously a moment more before turning back to the girl. "Yara - if that's your name - we have no quarrel with you. Give us your flag; we'll drop it and you'll be safe."

Yara wheezed. "Not...Yara," she ground out in a voice that wasn’t a girl's, a voice Tedros knew well -

"Tristan?" Tedros gasped, peering closer. Yara smiled peacefully and lifted her chin, grimacing in pain, revealing a rusty gash across her windpipe.

Tedros brushed aside Yara's ginger locks as delicately as he could, examining the cut. "Aric," he growled. "This is his knife. Tristan, give us your flag, we have to get you to the teachers so they can help - “

But Tristan was ignoring him, focusing on Sophie. "It's you," he smiled dreamily, green eyes unfocused.

"How do you know him?" Tedros sputtered, bewildered. "Filip came to the School after you left - “

"Must be addled," Sophie cut in brusquely. "I'm Filip, Tristan. Filip of Mount Honora."

"She's coming," Tristan mumbled. "I hid the pen...hid it in your storybook..."

"The Storian?" Tedros' eyes flashed. "Tristan, where did you - “

"She wants a different ending," Tristan croaked. "She knew you'd never look there - and she let me into their school, and it was so beautiful, and the girls were all so nice - “

Tristan spasmed, lungs heaving.

"None of the boys liked me," he whispered, directing his gaze at Tedros. "Except for you. Everyone was ruthless and so mean but you - you were my only friend."

A hacking cough shook Tristan's frame.

"I'm...sorry," he rasped, looking straight at Sophie.

"Who's coming? Who wants a different ending?" Sophie pressed, but the look on Tristan's face told her everything.

Sader.

Tristan smiled one last time, red hair slurping back into his skull, nose elongating, chin hardening, stubble sprouting -

His lungs rattled and a light radiated out from him, rising up slowly into the night sky, thousands of tiny fireworks drawing a portrait of Yara as fireflies on the Girls' side fizzled out.

"No - “ Tedros gasped, fumbling around Tristan's body, trying to find his flag. A thousand thoughts whirled through his skull. Tristan couldn't be dead, not sweet, confused Tristan who had just wanted - 

"He just wanted to be happy," he choked, hands trembling. "He just wanted to be a girl."

Filip grasped Tedros' hand, fingers warm. "Tedros - “

"I'm going to kill Aric," Tedros spat, adjusting Tristan's uniform one last time, tears searing his eyes. "I'm going to torture him until he's on his knees begging for mercy - “

Tedros descended down the tree, feet gripping ridged cracks in the bark. Filip scrambled after him - “Tedros, wait - “

"He's going to wish he'd never been born," Tedros lashed, drawing his sword with a sharp cling!

Filip grabbed his hand again. "Tedros you can't kill someone, you saw how T-T-Tristan died, you know you don't have it in you to - “

Tedros swelled redder and redder, eyes afire -

And the sword dropped to the ground as Tedros' hands hung limply. "You're right," he whispered, voice cracking. "Not even someone as Evil as Aric."

The prince crumpled to the forest floor, hands pressed to his eyes. "It's my fault," he gasped in between sobs. "My fault he's dead - should've been nicer to him - should've - “

Filip crouched beside him. "He said you were his only friend," the elvish boy said gently. "He wouldn't want you to take it this hard, Tedros. It's not your fault - “

"Then whose fault is it?" Tedros spat, face blotched red. "I started this stupid rivalry. I started this stupid Trial. If not for me Aric wouldn't even be here and Tristan would still - Tristan would be alive."

"You made mistakes," Filip said. "You paid the price. But now you know, don't you? You won't do this again - “

Tedros whirled to Filip and Filip flinched back - 

The prince of Camelot grabbed his friend and sobbed into his jacket. "It's not fair - I should be the one dead - “

"Camelot needs you to survive," Filip said, pushing Tedros away.

"Camelot doesn't need anything from me," Tedros hissed, his eyes lost and scared like that of a little boy's. "Not a queen masquerading as a king, a king who couldn't even save one goddam person - “

He hiccuped, trying to quash the tears in his eyes. "What a surprise, I'm the girl who's crying but I keep seeing you as a girl."

Filip stiffened beside him. "Must be the light," he prattled. "You know how moonlight is - and the forest is all shadowy too, so I'm sure I look weird - “

But Tedros wasn't listening. Instead he was thinking.

"Filip," he began. "What if...after all this is over, you stay with me? Here?"

"Tedros, I can't - “

"You make me feel normal," Tedros whispered. "You treat me like I'm normal and not some - some freak and I don't want to lose that, Filip, I don't want to lose it again."

Filip shook his head. "You have to promise to let Agatha and Sophie go home safe. Let them go back to where they belong - nobody else has to die."

Tedros took Filip's hand. "I need my friend, Filip," he said softly. "You said so yourself - you don't want to end up like your mother, loveless and alone." He swallowed. "And I don't want to end up like my father."

Filip leaned in closer. "I have someone waiting at home for me. Someone who understands me, the real me. I wouldn't trade her for anything, Tedros."

"You almost sound like a girl now," Tedros muttered, Filip's lips inches from his. Distantly, the prince noted that his friend smelled like honey and cream. Their breaths mingled -

Tedros' lips brushed Filip's -

"Oh my God."

Tedros' eyes snapped open and he leaped away from Filip. He knew that voice, he knew it was Agatha -

"It was an accident," he stammered, face bright red, his eyes pleading with his princess to forgive him -

But Agatha's finger was glowing gold, her dark eyes furious, advancing on the fluffy-haired boy beside him.

"Agatha, listen to me - “ Filip pleaded.

"You snake," she hissed. "You lying snake."

Tedros stepped in front of Filip, his own finger sparking to life. "Leave him alone, Agatha. Your fight is with me."

His princess ignored him, her eyes never wavering from Filip. "You tried to kiss him!" she cried, finger glowing brighter, hotter. "You tried to stay here with him and send me home!"

"It's not true - “ Filip protested -

Tedros whirled to him. "You know her?"

"You were there in the School Master's tower that night. You attacked us. You set him against me!" Agatha spewed, storming forward.

"And you promised you wouldn’t see him!" Filip cried, pitch wavering. "I couldn't lose you, Agatha. Not without trying to win you back."

"So you tried to get us home on a lie?" Agatha lashed. 

"Why are my princess and my best friend talking?" Tedros gaped, finger lowering, fizzling out -

"I had to show you your wish was wrong!" Filip begged, tears glowing in his eyes. "I had to show you that a best friend means more than a boy!"

Agatha shook her head, her face softening. "Can't you see?" she rasped, her voice cold and hard. "The more you try to stop us, the more my wish for him is true."

Filip fell back, his face raw and vulnerable -

"I really don't understand what's happening," Tedros croaked.

"You'd choose him over me?" Filip whispered. "Even after I risked my life to get us home?"

"Oh, so kissing him was your attempt to get us home? Kissing him was an attempt to save us?" Agatha mocked.

"He kissed me!" Filip yelled -

"H-h-hold on," Tedros stammered. "It was a bad moment - we're just friends, like you and S-Sophie - “

"Some friend." Agatha glowered at Filip.

"You have to believe me," Filip begged. "I chose you, Aggie. Even if I could stay here - even if I could be his forever - “

"It was so dark - and his face was so different - “ Tedros moaned. "Agatha, believe me, anyone would have made the same mistake - I still love you - “

"Didn't you say you wanted to forget this place?" Filip defended. "Didn't you say you wanted our happy ending back?"

"Happy?" Agatha said harshly, incredulously. "Our happy ending? Because of you, a boy is dead! Because of you, we could both still die!"

"I just wanted to go back to the way things were before," Filip said weakly. "Before we ever came here. Before we ever met a prince!" He sniffed. "I just wanted us back to real friends."

"Real friends don't hold each other back," Agatha lashed. "Real friends don't stop their friends from finding love. Real friends don't lie."

"That's it!" Tedros yelled, catapulting up, finger flaring. "I don't know how yo two know each other - whether you're pen pals or long-lost cousins or hiking buddies in Mount Honora - Filip isn't your concern," he snarled at Agatha. "So go find your treasured Sophie before I change my mind about killing you."

Agatha goggled at him before a laugh burst out of her.

"What's so funny," Tedros spat - 

"You don’t see it, do you?" Agatha marveled. "You still think he's your friend."

"My best friend," Tedros said. "Now I finally see why you would choose Sophie over me, Agatha. Filip backs me up and fights for me and he knows me, more than you could understand. I'd choose a friend as Good as him over you again and again and again."

"Let me tell you something about your friend," Aatha said witheringly. "He's about as good a friend to you as Lancelot was to your father."

"What did you just say?" Tedros hissed, voice dangerously cold -

Agatha looked at him, brown eyes softening. "Never could tell between Good and Evil, could you?"

Tedros stiffened -

And he whirled to Filip.

Filip, whose face he no longer knew. Filip, whose features were changing, sculpted into a delicate nose, tender pink mouth, soft jawline. Filip, whose veiny muscles were sleeking to smooth cream skin -

Filip, whose hair was flowing out in a cascade of gold curls. Filip, whose eyelashes were thickening, growing longer. Filip, whose ears were shrinking, pinning back -

Filip, who wasn’t Filip at all.

Tedros collapsed against a tree, holding back tears. "Why is it always a lie?" he whispered. "Why is everything always a lie?"

"Not everything," Agatha whispered, reaching forwards -

"D-d-don't kill me, Tedros," Sophie stammered, backing against a willow. "I'm s-s-still Filip...s-s-still your friend...just different..."

Tedros looked past Sophie, at the pale, dark-haired princess standing behind her, the princess looking at him with pleading eyes, the princess stepping towards him as if being pulled by a magnet -

"Y-y-you...you loved me the whole time?" he stammered softly, grass crinkling beneath his feet as he took a step closer.

Agatha nodded, tears leaking from her eyes.

"And everything you said in the tower was t-t-true?" Tedros whispered, eyes wet.

Agatha nodded again, crying harder.

"Why didn't I kiss you?" Tedros breathed, voice cracking, taking her hand in his. "Why didn’t I trust you?"

"You're...so stupid," Agatha wept, squeezing his palm. "Why are boys so stupid?"

Tedros smiled through tears. "Maybe a world without princes is a good idea after all."

Agatha choked a laugh, her heart finally free. Tedros held her close, inhaling her scent, memorizing every curve of her body -

A blast of purple light scorched past his ear -

Lady Lesso stormed out of the trees, smoking finger pointed directly at him. Tedros almost wanted, inanely, to complain about how no one ever gave Agatha and him enough privacy to just kiss -

"Agatha, Sophie, get away from him," the teacher hissed, backing towards the South Gate. "I'll hide you in the Woods until it's safe."

No one moved. 

"What are you doing!" she spat. "The other boys will be here any sec - “

But now Lady Lesso's eyes widened, for Agatha was pressed against Tedros, shielded protectively by his muscled arms. Clutching each other, Tedros and Agatha glared at Sophie, cowering in a Boy's uniform beneath the shadow of a willow tree.

"What's...what's happening..." Lady Lesso said, eyes darting between the two girls.

"I thought stopping your wish was Good, Aggie," Sophie wept. "I thought I was doing Good."

Even Lady Lesso began to back away from Sophie, violet eyes chilling in understanding. "A boy killed...students hurt...a Trial to the death...all our lives in danger...because of you?"

"Come on," Tedros said, taking Agatha's arm. "Let her fend for herself tonight."

"I didn't want to be like my mother. I didn't want to end all alone," Sophie begged, stepping closer to Agatha, hands outstretched. "I never wanted this to happen - I never wanted to hurt anyone - “

Both prince and princess softened at this, Tedros' eyes finding Sophie's, Agatha's heart conflicted, torn in two. But then Tedros remembered this was Sophie, not Filip - 

Filip, who he'd come out to.

Sophie, who he had come out to.

"Agatha..." he said quietly, locking his gaze on his princess's uncertain eyes.

Agatha looked back up at him, at her pure, devoted prince, as Good as he was in her dream...then back at Sophie, sobbing repentantly across the willow glen, reaching out for her...

No more tricks. No more secrets. 

No more second chances.

This time the choice was for real.

Agatha's hands tightened on Tedros' arm -

Red fire rocketed into the glen, sending Agatha and Tedros reeling back in a cloud of crimson smoke. Dazed, the two of them whirled to see red and white fireworks blasting through the sky from every direction, ricocheting out of control, like a meteor shower gone rogue. The fireflies on the boys' scoreboard combusted, scorching the remaining names, Tedros and Filip going up in flames. With a deafening crack, both scoreboards exploded, billowing black smoke over the West Gate.

"What's happening - “ Agatha gasped, ears ringing, Tedros next to her -

A low rumble grew behind the two of them, getting louder, louder...

Blood drained from their faces.

The enchanted haze over the castles dissipated like mist into the cool night air, revealing the schools overrun with roaring bodies, thundering about like a colony of ants being stepped on. Charging girls leapt from towers, sprinted down staircases, clamoring at the edge of broken Halfway Bridge. Bellowing boys and rabid princes stormed onto the Bridge from the other side, brandishing gleaming swords, oil-polished bows -

"They know I'm here," a voice said.

Agatha looked up at Lady Lesso, her violet gaze horrified, fixed on the castles. 

"I broke the terms," rasped her teacher. "Trial's over."

Agatha gulped. "What does that mean?"

Prince, princess, and Dean squinted up at the schools, at the howling armies massed mere meters from each other, colorful spells already rocketing through the fray -

"War," Tedros said, voice hard as steel. "It means war."

Over their heads, the willow branches began to shed, leaves glimmering like blue tinsel before sweeping down over bare branches. In the moon's pale glow, they could see that what they had mistaken for leaves were really -

Butterflies.

Like locusts, they swarmed through the glen, blinding Agatha, who shot futile spells from her fingertip, incinerating one butterfly, turning another to daisies. Next to her, Tedros hacked at the violent storm of blue wings, impaling three, four, five -

Behind them, Lady Lesso gasped and her violet fingerglow fizzled out as butterflies overwhelmed her, spiriting her off the ground -

"Evelyn," she said, horrified, face pale and drawn. "She heard everything - “

"No!" Agatha cried, shoving her way through the swarm, grabbing Lady Lesso's hand - 

Panicked, Lady Lesso thrust her face next to Agatha's ear. "Kiss him," she breathed. "Kiss him when the time comes!"

And then the butterflies screeched, all together, wings whipping into a frenzy. Agatha's clothes were shredded, tattered, and Lady Lesso was ripped away, kidnapped into the night sky.

Agatha gulped in deep breaths, frozen in a shadowed glen.

"What did she say?"

Agatha turned around, seeing Tedros, leather uniform ripped like hers, golden hair mussed, a circle of blue butterflies dead on the grass beside him.

"Agatha?" said another voice. 

She turned to see the last of the red smoke wisping away, Sophie wreathed in it.

"What did Lady Lesso say?" her friend asked, face tense. 

Agatha opened her mouth and closed it like a fish, her mind spinning between a Tedros, her prince, her prince who had fought for her, who had loved her -

And Sophie, without whom her soul felt incomplete.

The treetops rustled behind them, crackling and splitting -

The School Master's tower ripped into the glen, the ground tearing apart with a crack. Sophie and Tedros were thrown aside by the sheer force, on opposite sides of the clearing, Agatha teetering on the fault line between them.

A spiral of blue butterflies twirled down from the window, congealing into a familiar figure -

Evelyn Sader, like an actor right on cue, stepped into the willow glen, sharp red nails clutching a cherrywood book.

The Tale of Sophie and Agatha.

"Trial," the Dean mused. "Such an interesting word. So many different meanings. An experiment in search of a conclusion. A test of faith and stamina. A difficult moment in one's life." Her voice hardened. "And yet...I prefer the more formal definition." Her brows knitted together, eyes taking in Sophie and Tedros, Agatha between them.

"A formal court before witnesses to determine guilt."

The Dean smiled cryptically, eyes locked on Agatha's.

"Now the real Trial begins."

With her sharp crimson nail, Evelyn slit open the binding on the book's spine, the Storian ripping free, nib burning red. The book floated out of her arms, flipping open in the moonlight, the Storian scratching furiously on paper.

Pages flipped faster than Agatha could see until finally it slowed down, a magnificent painting of Agatha between Tedros and Sophie spilling from its nib -

Only this Sophie wasn't the blonde, beautiful girl she knew.

This Sophie was a bald, warted old witch.

The pen glided across paper -

"The villain had been hidden all this time."

Agatha and Tedros slowly looked up at Sophie, creamy and beautiful in the moonlight.

"You see, Agatha, my pretty little princess, you thought I conjured Sophie's symptoms. That I was the true villain in this story." Evelyn sauntered forward, sitting on a tree stump. "When it wasn’t me at all, was it?"

"Agatha, I'm not a witch...you know I'm not a witch..." Sophie scoffed.

But Agatha was moving back, crossing into Tedros' side of the glen -

Sophie burned bright red. "You think I could still be Evil? You...you think I could still hurt you? Aggie, you keep me Good! You keep the witch dead!"

"Not dead enough, I'm afraid," Agatha whispered, eyes bright with tears. Her hands trembled like dry leaves.

Sophie looked at Tedros, begging. "I was a good friend, wasn't I? I...I saved your life! A friend like that couldn’t be a witch, could they? Tell her, Tedros! Please!"

Tedros met her gaze, eyes racked with pain and indecision. "I...I don't..."

"Please," Sophie begged, stepping closer, arms outstretched. The edge of her leather sleeve peeled back, revealing a still-healing lash mark on her forearm -

(She saved you.)

("The Good forgive," Agatha whispered, clutched to his chest.)

(She's not a witch.)

(The Good forgive.)

Tedros stepped forward too, ready to make peace, make amends for all his horrible mistakes -

Sophie screamed in pain, a wart thrusting through the skin of her neck. Blinding pain seared her forearms, her wrists -

She lifted her arms to see two black warts, more boiling beneath the surface of her skin.

"N-n-no," she gasped, crawling forwards - "It's the Dean, Aggie, it's the Dean, please - “

But now the tree stump was empty, the Dean nowhere in sight -

Agatha inhaled sharply, torn -

And stepped back to Tedros.

"Aggie, please!" Sophie sobbed, blonde hair falling out in clumps, back humping, liver spots sizzling on her skin. Tedros clenched his jaw, unsure -

(Filip isn’t a witch.)

(The Good forgive.)

But Agatha's gold fingerglow was raised, pointed at Sophie -

"It's the Dean," Sophie pleaded, eyes trained on his. "Please believe me, Teddy, she's - she's doing this to me - “

Tedros opened his mouth to respond, to defend Sophie -

"Don't you see?" Agatha whispered, her finger never faltering in its glow. "It was you, Sophie. It was always you."

"I'm sorry," Sophie wept. "I'm sorry for everything I did - “ Her legs shriveled to spindly sticks, her eyes turning coal black - "But I'm not this, Agatha, I'm not!"

"You can’t be here, Sophie," Agatha said, eyes misted with tears. "We'll only be happy apart."

"Agatha, no - “ 

But this time it wasn't Sophie protesting - 

"T-T-Tedros?" Agatha stammered, flushing with surprise. "But she - she's - “

"My friend," Tedros said clearly, tugging his princess with him across the glen. Sophie panted in relief, reaching one clawed hand out -

And this time Tedros was the one to take it.

"Tedros - “ Agatha gasped -

The Storian glowed cherry red, sensing an ending -

"You’re my princess," Tedros said to Agatha, voice ringing across the clearing. "And she's my friend. Our friend."

Sophie's hair cascaded out in blonde ringlets, her eyes melting to emerald green, her back straightening, her warts disappearing -

And Agatha stared at her friend, her friend who had never been a witch -

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry - I thought - I thought it was you, Sophie,  
\- “

Sophie paused, feeling her hand in Tedros', feeling rage swelling through her, ripping through her blood -

Tedros squeezed her palm, eyes locked on hers -

And the rage fell away.

Sophie took Agatha's pale hand in hers, her smile lighter than the sun.

The Storian finished inking a painting. Princess, witch, and prince, together in harmony -

"For now they saw who the villain truly was."

"No!" Evelyn screeched, bursting from the trees. "It was - it was supposed to - “

"It was supposed to what," Sophie lashed, storming forward, finger hot pink. 

"He was supposed to come back - you were supposed to kiss him back to life-“

"Who," Sophie demanded, grabbing Evelyn by the chin, her blood singing in fury. "Tell me now or so help me I will rip you apart - “

"Rafal," Evelyn gasped. "You were his true love - “

Sophie paused, those two words echoing in her ears. 

"Sophie," Agatha whispered, hand in hers.

Sophie's fingers weakened, Evelyn's chin falling free.

"Don't you see?" Evelyn gasped, eyes boring into Sophie's. "He'll love you - the School Master - you'll bring a new age of Evil - “

Tedros came up behind her. "Sophie - Sophie, please - “

Sophie's mind whirled - 

A true love, a boy who would caress her just as tenderly as Tedros caressed Agatha, a boy who would kiss her with passion she had never yet experienced - 

"You would be the third wheel," Evelyn pressed, seeing Sophie's resolve weaken. "All the time. No one for you to love except those fat boys from Camelot, with yellow teeth and old wrinkled mothers - “

Sophie drew away from Tedros -

"Sophie," he pleaded. 

"I can't just be your friend," she whispered. "I need someone to love, too - I need a prince of my own."

Evelyn's eyes gleamed. "You won’t be alone anymore, Sophie - “

"She never was," Agatha said, voice clear and strong. 

"But she will be - “ Evelyn barreled on - 

"No she won't," Agatha interrupted, finger flaring, brown eyes hard as iron. "She'll have me. And she'll have Tedros. And if I know Sophie, I know that she'll find herself a prince of her own without anyone else's help."

Sophie's head whipped between Sader and Agatha, Sader and Tedros -

"I don’t know what to do," she whispered, heart twisted every which way.

The Storian hung on top of the storybook, swinging back and forth like a ticking clock -

Sophie gasped shallow breaths -

"Your one true love," Evelyn said. "I heard your wish that day, Sophie. I heard you wish for your mother. I can bring her back to you if you'd like - I can bring her back - “

"Don't listen to her," Agatha warned - 

"M-m-my mother?" Sophie stuttered, heart leaping -

"Sophie," Tedros said quietly.

Evelyn drew closer, pulling a wisp of blue smoke from her breast. The smoke funneled together, drawing more and more from Evelyn's body - 

Until Sophie's mother floated before them, radiant in the moonlight.

"M-m-mother," Sophie whispered, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Don't break the kiss, Sophie," her mother said, a ghostly hand reaching for her daughter. "Don't break it or you'll lose your only chance at true love."

Sophie gasped. "Is it you? Are you my true love?"

Her mother smiled gently. "Kiss me and you'll find out."

Agatha's hand brushed hers -

Sophie looked back, seeing her friend reached for her, and for a moment her heart shied away from the phantom, from this ghostly image. But then she saw Agatha's delicate hand in a prince's palm -

"Don't you see?" Sophie whispered, tears blurring her eyes. "I can't end like she did."

In one smooth move, Sophie pressed her lips to her mother's, eyes shut tight. She felt maggots poking at her lips, seeing a half-rotted corpse staring back at her, cold, dead lips grazing hers -

"SOPHIE, NO!" Agatha screeched. "IT'S HIM - IT'S THE SCHOOL MASTER - “

"Don't break the kiss!" Evelyn growled - 

Sophie's eyes opened wide, seeing a face next to hers, a face with snow-white skin, frosty hair, ice-blue eyes - 

The face of the man who had killed her.

(Agatha saved you.)

(Tedros saved you.)

With a roar, Sophie wrenched her lips from the phantom's, stumbling back into her friend's arms. Agatha wrapped her up tightly, Tedros next to her - 

"Oh thank you thank you thank you - “ Agatha breathed -

The phantom - the School Master - looked at them one last time, eyes anguished, before his head jerked back in an inhuman shriek of pain, the blue smoke of his body splitting apart, weaving into the sky -

Evelyn Sader screeched in agony, falling to the forest floor, her dress - no, her entire body - collapsing, melting apart, her butterflies rippling to scarlet. Red wings spiraled out, fluttering, tearing at Agatha, Sophie, and Tedros -

"Not today, witch," Sophie spat. She linked gazes with Tedros and Agatha -

Together, they raised their fingers, two gold, one pink, blasting the butterflies with a streak of pure white light -

A cacophony of tiny shrieks pierced the sky as the butterflies congealed again, forming a limp Evelyn Sader - 

Sophie started forwards, anger fueling her blazing finger - 

But Evelyn had already collapsed, eyes glazed over, hand outstretched, before crumbling to nothing but dust.

And a single red butterfly flitted higher and higher, a letter clutched between its legs.

The Storian blazed brighter, whipping across pages, until finally -

A vivid painting of the two schools, spattered in blood, bodies littered across the Bridge, dominated the book.

"We have to stop them," Agatha breathed, clenching Tedros' hand.

Tedros moved forward, jaw set, lunging forward to grab the Storian. Pain seared through his palm as the pen burned hot, scorching his skin -

"Come on," he gasped, sprinting towards the schools, the silver School Master's tower following behind, mowing down trees. "We have to - “

But Agatha and Sophie were already beside him, hair streaming back as they ran.

They skidded to a stop outside the gates, which remained firmly locked. "Come on!" Tedros roared, stabbing the Storian at the wrought iron -

Lady Lesso, haggard and torn, scurried out of the brush, her fingerglow forcing the gates open. A dead scarlet butterfly was perched on her head like a morbid accessory. "What happened - where's Evelyn - “

"Dead," Sophie said brusquely.

Tedros dashed through the gates, barreling right into the School for Girls, dodging bloodthirsty students every which way until he sprinted up the Honor staircase, right into the (remade) Merlin's Menagerie, diving into the pool, Agatha, Sophie, and Lady Lesso behind him -

The School Master's tower skidded to a stop in the middle of Halfway Bridge.

Across both schools, fighting paused for just one moment, long enough for Agatha to summon a bolt of lightning, which cracked down above the Bay -

"Listen to me!" she shouted, magnifying her voice with her fingerglow. From the windows of the School for Boys, Hort and Raven turned. Beatrix, Anadil, and Millicent paused. Mona, Vex, Kiko, Giselle, Nicholas, Tarquin, they all turned to see -

Prince, witch, and princess.

No longer enemies, but friends.

"Again we've divided ourselves into different categories. Again we've passed judgement on other people simply because they're not the same as us." Agatha paused, looking at each and every person.

"But because of this, because of our petty fights and squabbles, a boy is dead," Agatha thundered. "Yes, we're different from each other. We could separate ourselves into hundreds, thousands of different categories. Black hair versus blond. Green eyes versus brown. 

"We fight and kill and torture and scheme for what? To prove one side is better than the other? To prove that we're truly Good, or Evil, or a Boy, or a Girl? But we're all part of something bigger than that, don't you see?" Agatha beamed at everyone, tears shining in her eyes.

"We're all alive. We all love, and cry, and fight, and rage, and most of all we make mistakes. Most of all we're human.

Agatha took a deep breath. "For every way that tears us apart, there are two more ways that bring us together. I - I'm an Evergirl. And you might be a Neverboy. But it doesn’t matter because both of us get angry. We start fights we know we shouldn’t. We're stubborn and bullheaded and care about things - and people - a lot more than we should.

"Or maybe we're both caring. We can't stand to see innocent people get hurt. Or we're not good around a lot of people, or we're insecure, or we're shy. Or maybe we both just hate Evelyn Sader. But don’t you see? Nobody would wish for a world like this. A world torn apart by hate and jealousy and fear."

Agatha smiled, her finger blazing. Make a wish, she urged, her voice flickering in the minds of everyone present. Just one wish.

At first she was overwhelmed by the torrent of thoughts and emotions - (I wish she would love me back, I wish I wasn’t such a failure, I wish I was Class Captain, I wish I was smart, I wish I wish I wish I wish I wish). But eventually one wish came to the surface - 

(Show me what we’re fighting for.)

Agatha smiled, her finger sparking. "Wish granted."

A hazy mist descended over the two castles, hiding their true features from sight. And students everywhere saw a different path, a different school, a different life -

There were still two schools: the School for Good and the School for Evil. Still a division of people, but as they peered closer they could see -

Halfway Bridge was open.

Evers and Nevers milled about together, chatting, laughing, showing off. In a corner of the scene, two Evergirls kissed passionately while a pink-haired Neverboy squealed beside them. Evers and Nevers gossiped together, ate lunch together, an offense Agatha and Sophie had both been shunned for. There were pretty Nevergirls and ugly Evergirls. There were scrawny Everboys, handsome Neverboys.

"A world where we can be who we want to be," Agatha said softly, her voice fuzzy like a cloud. "A world where no one is forced to hide parts of themselves they don’t like. A world where people can flaunt everything, their flaws, their weaknesses, their strengths."

And in the very center of the scene, Agatha, Sophie, and Tedros sat together, joking around, talking to a group of starry-eyed first-years. Sophie wore the pointy-shouldered gown of Lady Lesso, Agatha and Tedros matching crowns.

"A world where we respect each other for who we are. Nevers can love. Nevers can be pretty. Evers can end up alone. Princesses can rescue themselves. Princes can be rescued. Witches don’t have to be killed in order for Good to win.

"Doesn’t this world sound better?"

The vision slowly dissipated, breaking into a thousand tiny wisps. People blinked, clearing their heads, and Agatha continued, voice cracking.

"I wish I had the power to make that our reality right now. I wish I had the power to b-bring Tristan back. But - “ Agatha inhaled deeply, eyes glossy. "But I don’t. If we want this future, we'll have to fight for it. We'll have to tear it from the hands of the rest of the world." Agatha looked at her captive audience, jaw set. "But it will be worth it."

Her voice resounded across the schools. "This will be hard. This will be - well, it'll seem wrong to some people. A world without prejudice. A world without fear, fear of yourself and who you are and what people will do to you when you're discovered."

Agatha grasped Tedros' hand, lifting her glowing finger high into the air. "That world is what I will fight for."

Tedros squeezed her palm and raised his hand as well, their twin golden lights shining like beacons.

Slowly, Agatha saw Hester raise her hand, red glow pulsing. Across the Bridge, Anadil's green light flared, Kiko's blush-pink spark beside it. Vex, Ravan, and Hort shot their glows into the sky, maroon, black, and dusky orange spiraling through the clouds - 

And suddenly the sky was full of bright colors, Sophie's hot pink blazing brightly. Beatrix' sunshine-yellow glow weaved around Reena's dark purple; Dot's blue streak twisting with Kiko's. As Agatha looked around, she could see students, teachers, boys, girls, Evers, Nevers, all standing with her.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and Tedros kissed them away.

"We did it," she whispered, clutching his hands tighter. "We stopped the fighting. We saved the schools."

Tedros just smiled, pulling his princess close. "Well then, it’s about time for a kiss, isn’t it?"

Agatha laughed, giddy from adrenaline. "All fairy-tales seem to end with one."

"Who am I to defy tradition?" Tedros breathed, leaning closer -

Their lips met and Agatha melted into his arms, raking her hands through his hair. He tasted of vanilla, and something slightly citrusy. She felt his fingers tangle in her dark locks, one hand on her waist -

The Storian shot up, a cherrywood storybook floating behind. Slowly everyone turned to watch the pen scribble away, a magnificent painting flowing from its nib -

Tedros and Agatha, framed by the night sky, fingerglows dancing through the clouds, locked in a passionate embrace. Sophie was behind them, gazing at both of them with genuine happiness in her eyes.

"I love you," Agatha breathed.

"I love you too," Tedros whispered, leaning his forehead against hers.

And with a flourish, the Storian wrote -

"The End."

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 is coming and will completely stray from the books. It will include most of the same characters and definitely some nods to Soman's second trilogy, but most of it will be my invention. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it before the end of April!


End file.
